He was expected to be available when England take on New Zealand in a two-match home Test series in May.

"It's hard to put a timeframe on when I'll make my comeback," said Woakes.

"It depends on how it reacts when I start bowling in the next week or two.

Chris Woakes' international pedigree

Chris Woakes has played in four Tests and six T20s for England, but most of his time in an England shirt has been in one-day internationals, in which he has taken 47 wickets at an economy rate of 5.96, in 34 matches

"It has been quite slow progress, but it is coming on quite well. It has been full weight-bearing for about three weeks and I started running this week."

But, although recovering more slowly than expected, Woakes insists that being allowed to join the tour late was never an option and the only immediate target for the Aston Villa fan is being at Wembley on Sunday to watch his team play Moeen's beloved Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final.

"Being ruled out of the West Indies tour has given me that little bit of extra time to get it right," said Woakes, speaking as Warwickshire's representative at Thursday's T20 Blast press launch day at Edgbaston. "And it's nice to have that extra break.